Vista's teacher's union agrees to tentative contract agreement

VISTA —— After nearly two years without a contract, the Vista
Teachers Association is tantalizingly close to a new deal as a
panel from all of the district's schools approved a tentative
agreement Monday.

The union's representative council gave the nod to a new
two-year contract that would give the teachers a 2 percent raise in
their base salaries beginning July 1.

The contract also would provide financial relief for the
cash-strapped district by ending the teacher's early retirement
benefit plan that has created a $14 million unfunded liability for
the district. That unfunded liability is part of the reason that
the San Diego County Office of Education threatened to take over
the district's finances in 2003.

Teachers in the Vista school district have been working without
a contract for nearly two years and teachers haven't had a raise in
their base pay in about four years, although they have received
step raises based on the old contract.

Teachers Association President Susie Bristow has said on several
occasions that the teachers deserve a raise after going several
years without a base pay increase.

"My teachers really deserve a raise," Bristow said Monday. "I
would have liked to get something more, but it was something. We've
gone for years without a raise."

Bristow said the association's executive board approved the
tentative agreement on Feb. 25.

After a series of three information sessions on the potential
deal for teachers, the entire membership will vote on the proposal,
Bristow said.

If the teachers agree to the new contract, it will then have to
be ratified by Vista Unified's board, said Superintendent Dave
Cowles.

In addition to the 2 percent base salary raise, the district
also committed to renegotiating with the teachers for a larger
raise if the district ends up with more money than expected after
the state budget is finalized, Cowles said.

An issue at the center of the negotiations was the early
retirement benefit, which has created a $14 million unfunded
liability for Vista Unified.

Partially because of that liability, the county Office of
Education threatened to take over the administration of the
district's finances, a step that can be taken against any school
district whose budget is in arrears for several years.

District employees who retire early between the ages of 55 and
61 receive their regular pension along with a supplementary
pension, which amounts to a check of about $600 each month until
the age of 65, and then $310 each month until the age of 70. The
district also pays half the retirees health care premiums.

That retirement benefit will end for teachers in June 2006,
Cowles and Bristow said.

Cowles said that ending the retirement benefit in 2006 will not
take away the $14 million in liability the district currently has.
That liability could also grow next year if a number of teachers
take the benefit right before it disappears.

However, Cowles said ending the benefit was key for the district
financially.

"It was one of those ticking time-bombs," he said. "And we were
able to dismantle it."